A DVD player with customisable wallpaper and other stuff resulting from user interaction. Pressing eject gets you a clip of John Cleese saying "And now for something completely different", stop causes a cartoon foot to come down and crush the picture, the "wallpaper" is a Terry Gillam cartoon and so on. Other options are available. There is a small quantity of flash memory and elementary file manager to enable these options.
Come to think of it, they could be on yer actual DVD too, not just a memory stick.-- nineteenthly, Dec 22 2008 http://xkcd.com/16/ [MechE, Dec 22 2008] Life of Python http://www.youtube....watch?v=kqilW8OpeGcBlasphemy! [nineteenthly, Dec 22 2008] Mayor of Aberystwyth http://news.bbc.co....les/mid/7514423.stmShe´s not the Messiah, she´s... [nineteenthly, Dec 23 2008] Python -> Sentient DVD Player ? http://xkcd.com/521/ [ryokan, Dec 25 2008] I think it/they mark a turning point in comedy as did the goons or the beatles in music etc.-- po, Dec 22 2008 It isn't just about Python, they're an example and they made it come to mind. If it was about them alone, the DVD player would be Tux-shaped.Monty Python didn't all happen at once. Spike Milligan's stuff is a precursor, presumably even the Goons, and they saw themselves as copying him. There was also "Do Not Adjust Your Set" and the origin of the Yorkshiremen sketch, "At Last The 1948 Show". "The Complete And Utter History Of Britain" was also connected. I think it's partly a question of rewriting history, which is what always happens. I certainly remember being deeply impressed by it at the time, but it has to be said that the last series was really not very good and i was disappointed by every episode of that i saw by then. Then again, we even rewrite the history of our own lives. How many people in England remember how heavily it _snowed_ in 'seventy-six? For example.-- nineteenthly, Dec 22 2008 ah, yes - so cold in June '76 that the balls at wimbledon froze to the net.-- po, Dec 22 2008 "ah, yes - so cold in June '76 that the balls at wimbledon froze to the net." Those guys should have walked around instead of trying to jump over.-- phoenix, Dec 22 2008 '76 wasn't cold - 1963 was though (as was '78)! BTW, most of Monty Python (and the Goodies) cut their teeth on "I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again" on the radio, after the Fringe.-- coprocephalous, Dec 22 2008 cold as irony!-- po, Dec 22 2008 Wasn't that by Foreigner, in about 1978?-- coprocephalous, Dec 22 2008 You won´t like my link then, [bigsleep]. It´s early ´eighties.I´m not saying the year was cold, sorry, just that it snowed very late in the spring. I shouldn´t have said that it snowed heavily, which is not true, but it is true that it snowed something like Maytembruary time.-- nineteenthly, Dec 22 2008 Aha! So, 'eighties comedy isn´t all bad then, is it?! It´s on the second Not DVD and the Gerald/Daffodil thing (oft quoted at me by [grayure] to puncture my pomposity) is on the first i think, so it´s probably later.Can't the HB do interrobangs then?! ‽-- nineteenthly, Dec 22 2008 meh, sorry, I never "got" Monty Python [-]-- FlyingToaster, Dec 22 2008 [FlyingToaster], it isn't just about Monty Python, that's just the first thing that comes to mind. An alternative might be the Matrix. Imagine a DVD player with a Matrix DVD that does the cascading green text as a screen saver and has the red and green pill reflected in Morpheus's shades as wallpaper, or a Withnail & I DVD which says something like "Scrubbers!" when it's ejected. I'm talking about themes on DVDs which can be installed on the player, or overriden and customised by the user.-- nineteenthly, Dec 22 2008 ...sounds like a free DVD-Player promo item.-- FlyingToaster, Dec 23 2008 //What is it about Python that make people so obsessive?// they are soooo silly and funny and said things no one dared to say back then! Watch *The Life of Brian*. I grew up Catholic and the pure sacrilege of it is the most hilarious thing I've ever seen and heard!-- xandram, Dec 23 2008 [FlyingToaster], yes, but i think i'm missing your point. Are you saying that makes it good or bad?-- nineteenthly, Dec 23 2008 //and said things no one dared to say back then! Watch *The Life of Brian*. //"Life of Brian" was banned in my home town, by elected officials who stated "you don't have to see excrement to know that it smells".Just made me want to move to another country where I /could/ watch it.-- coprocephalous, Dec 23 2008 Maybe you should just have become mayor, [coprocephalous], see link again.-- nineteenthly, Dec 23 2008 [19thly] well the average life expectancy of most promo items is usually 60-80 seconds: 'til after you have irrevocably purchased the main item, giving you just enough time to leave the store, just like normal items where manufacturers use the formula (warranty-time minus the amount of time our service-reps can keep you on hold) for their calculations.-- FlyingToaster, Dec 23 2008 OK, thanks for that explanation. Whereas it could be used like that, the user can change it by putting another disc in or customise it via a memory stick and the file manager. They can also be really obsessed and therefore not perceive how sick everyone else is of it quoting the parrot sketch or saying "of all the gin joints in all the world..." or whatever every time the tray opens. I´m the kind of sad git who´d not only enjoy that but also enjoy annoying everyone else with it.-- nineteenthly, Dec 23 2008 I thought this would be a fully programmable player, with Python as the language.-- spidermother, Dec 24 2008 Great idea. When you work out how to do it, set up a website to download the different options so you change your theme at will !-- Hairy Sock, Dec 24 2008 [spidermother], maybe do that too, but it stops being a DVD player at that point in a way. The text on DVD thing would work if that were done though.-- nineteenthly, Dec 24 2008 random, halfbakery