Thatcher Effect

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http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/fcs_thomps ... index.html
I heard somebody talking about this and had never seen it before, so I looked it up, expecting some profound optical illusion... But the difference was IMMEDIATELY obvious to me and I didn't get what the illusion was.
Does anybody else get why this is an optical illusion?

duuuh

I can't believe someone put time and effort into this... lame

Maybe it is to help train airport security to sniff out people wearing upside down Margaret Thatcher masks.

lol that would be almost as useful as the x-ray that shows the travellers naked (I've heard the Chinese use it on their airports... yikes!)

anyway, I was just watching "Planet of the Apes" and was equally disappointed at the so-called "unexpected ending". I mean, hello! they all spoke English!

nothing surprises me anymore...

Well, OBVIOUSLY the astronaut had a Babelfish in his ear and therefore just assumed all the ape-men were speaking their own language and the Babelfish was translating (sorry if you are not a Hitchhiker's fan...lol).
Were you watching the old one or the remake?
No movie plot ever surprises me anymore... I figure it out as it goes along. I think maybe that comes from having to analyze people's behavior my whole life just to fit in.

I suspect most people don't notice that the eyes and mouth are inverted when the photo is upside-down. Then when you rotate the photo they probably just think the one on the right is frowning -- it probably takes a little effort to notice that the eyes and mouth are inverted. I didn't notice it immediately the first time I saw it (on a page about the book Quirkology by Richard Wiseman). But then, I was only casually glancing past the image, not looking directly at it. Once I looked directly at the image, I could tell immediately that the eyes and mouth had been inverted.

http://www.quirkology.com/USA/index.shtml

Wiseman (he is hilarious) was actually a guest on the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe and he mentioned it. That's why I looked it up. It had absolutely no effect on me, though. And that seems odd because I am very bad with faces, especially when it comes to specific features. I can't describe a person's facial features to save my life. And, for example, when people say that children have a certain facial feature from one of their parents, I honestly can't see it, even with my own kids.

yeah, I am happy as a little child when I finally see a movie that has a genuine element of surprise. they just seem to all follow the same few schemes.

the worst ones are crime shows though, I've noticed that there are 4 major patterns and once you've figured them out you can guess who's the killer with certainty halfway through each episode (and sometimes right from the outset). I just watch them out of routine nowdays and to congratulate myself at the end that "I told me so!"

re: POTA....actually, the surprise ending in the 'Marky Mark' version is actually the one in the Pierre Boulle book.

Yeah, I can't actually think of a movie or TV show where I was actually surprised by who the killer was. It probably helps that I had a brief obsession with criminal psychology. Some of these shows are so bad at it though that I can tell who the killer is just by the way the camera is pointed at him.

I noticed the differences right off too...

ok there were a few totally unexpected endings, like "The Usual Suspects", "Jacobs Ladder" (<-- that one really blew my mind btw), but "Sixth Sense" and "The Others" I kinda figured out halfway through.

it's interesting what you said about the camera, is it the angle or close-up or what? I shall pay more attention to this next time I'm watching CSIs...

The Usual Suspects was damn good, and surprising. I haven't seen Jacob's Ladder. I totally agree on the Sixth Sense and The Others.

And yeah, it's usually something to do with the camera angle or the way a shot or scene is set up. I read a lot about filmmaking and directing and stuff, though. I also read a lot of comics books and I've read about the subtle tricks they use to direct your eyes where they want, and the same tricks seem to be used in film. It's difficult to quantify, but I've learned to tell a lot from subtle cues like that. Unfortunately, it only works for TV and movies. I still can't read people worth a damn. lol

yeah camerawork is a bit of an obsession of mine too.

I can't believe you haven't seen Jacob's Ladder, what a disgrace! shame on you. go see it! (you won't believe the ending!!)

Yeah, I'm the dork that watches the "Making Of" documentaries on DVD's.