Some kids get too dependent on their PCs. Do you think laptops in the future will be so sofisticated as this one here? Will they be a big help or just make us stupid?

Created by Caroline Ting. She wrote:

My film, RAM (Random Access Memory), speaks about becoming too reliant and emotionally attached to your personal computer.

It is a playful exaggeration of my research on recent trends of dependency and attachment to PCs, found especially in the U.S. and UK children.

Too many people in my generation are addicted to, dependant on, and attached to their computers and the Internet. Most of my friends use Internet language in their everyday conversations which I find very interesting, and oddly hilarious.

The animation's storyline centers on the interaction between two boys, Mark and Tylr, whereas the technical focus is on the animation itself, particularly facial animation. The style is inspired by Japanese anime, which has already been applied to many technological and sci-fi series, and was born in a country famous for its technophilia and tendency to use technology for fun and companionship.

The voice actors are children I overheard talking at a comic book store.

- Good now, jump. The aeroplanes are coming, jump! Stay out of the spotlight, go to the right, go to the right! go to the right! You gonna die, you gonna die, you gonna die, you gonna die.
- I'm not gonna die, I...
- Then go up!
- My high score's better than yours.
- Then go to the left.
- Uhuh, and where's left?
- Left is still left, dummer. Oh, up, jump.
- Dud game.
- Aw, you gonna die. Now you're dead. Oh! You died.
- I'm in-...
- *ehem* Mark, do you know why you're here today?
- Cause, err, my marks are like really...
- The overall mean of your assessment grades today is 42.7%.
- Shut up! You think you know everything.
- Cause I actually pay attention in class.
- I do pay attention in class but you totally distract me.
- It's all about multitasking, don't you know?
- Whatever, I was learning.
- But you suck at it.
- Go burn your hat.
- This noob's just asked me what façade means six times!
- What does façade mean again? What's *vakade* mean again? What's *fakahd*?, what's *fasade"? what's *fackid*? What's *fasss..*? --- So? Humans can't remember everything we are told. We're only allowed to use 10% of our brains.
- Well, durr, that's what I'm here for. I'm only trying to help... Looks like you're writing a letter. Would you like help? Get help writing the letter, or just type the letter without help... Let's play World of Warcraft.
- Ummmm, ok. -- Trying to help? Like the night before handing when you just crashed cause I wouldn't play "WoW".
- Well, I was like so emo.
- He even gave my e-mail lots of spam sites.
- Only spam sites I thought you might like.
- Alright, I've heard enough! Mark, your laptop is obviously too much of a distraction, I'll have to confiscate it.
- What-what- you-you can't do that.
- It's still school property, I assure you I can.
- I don't want to be confiscated. It's so boring.
- But how am I supposed to talk to my friends, and- and do assignments. He's got all my work and stuff.
- Don't worry, I won't tell any of your passwords... err, unless you ticked the box that makes me remember.
- Maybe a useful item but it isn't helping you much, is it? Shut it down Mark. Now!
- Good. Now, what class do you have next?
- Uhmmm.
- Our next class is science and ++++.
- Uh, I knew that.
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- It looks like you're writing a letter, would you like help? Get help writing the letter or just type the letter without help.
- ha ha
- What's a *fakahdee*?
- ha ha
- What-what is a *fakahd*?
- ha ha
- a "façade" is like a "deceptive" front.
- Oooh, deceptive.

SPOTLIGHT= A strong beam of light that illuminates only a small area, used especially to center attention on a stage performer. (see picture)

GONNA= (coll.) are going to.

SCORE= The points you get in a game everytime you do something right. The player with the higher score is the winner.

DUMMER= Silly.

DUD= (coll.) Ineffective or unsuccessful. "Dud game" = "Stupid game" (a game which you don't like because it's boring and you think it is very bad) (he said that just because he lost, of course).

MARKS= (also "grades" or "results") A letter, number, or percentage used to grade academic work (to assess its quality)

OVERALL= Total.

MEAN= Average number. For example, if you have 3, 5, and 7, the mean is 5.33
(3+5+8)/3=5.3333

ASSESSMENT GRADES= Exam or test marks. To assess is to evaluate, to examine something to see how good it is.

SHUT UP= (coll.) Be quiet, don't speak.

CAUSE= (coll.) Because.

ACTUALLY= In fact; truly.

TOTALLY= (coll.) Really (used for emphasis). A very fashionable word especially among young people:
- It's so nice, I totally love it (= I really like it a lot).
- I totally need a new dress (= I need it very much).
- Do you like him?   - Totally (= yes, very much).

MULTITASKING= The ability of making different things (tasks) at the same time.

WHATEVER= (coll.) We say this word when we think that what somebody said is something stupid or not important and we don't want to talk about it.

GO BURN YOUR HAT= This is a rare expression, it means something like "go to hell" but nicer.

NOOB= (coll. short form of "newbie": novice, a first time user, someone with no experience. This word is also often used just to mean "stupid".

YOU SUCK AT IT= You are very bad at it, you have no ability for that.

FAÇADE= A word coming from French. The letter Ç in French is pronounced like an S. In English it can be also spelled "facade". The correct pronunciation is /fəsɑ:d/, imitating the original French sound, but the boy doesn't know how to pronounce it so every time he forgets, he tries a different pronunciation and gets them wrong all the time.
The façade is the external part of the building where the main entrance is. It is also like a false appearance of something. A person's façade is like a false personality he's showing to other people so they get the wrong idea.

BRAIN= The soft gray part inside our heads that we use to think.

DURR=(coll.) Silly, stupid.

LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE= You appear to be... (the word "like" here is a preposition)

WORLD OF WARCRAFT= A popular computer game. The word "warcraft" means "the art of science of war".

HANDING= I suppose "the night before handing" means the night before the day he had to hand in a school assignment to his teacher (to "hand in" is to give your homework to your teacher).

CRASHED= When a computer crashes, it suddenly stops working.

WoW= (pronounced like "wow!") Short for "World of Warcraft", a famous computer game.

I WAS LIKE...= This LIKE doesn't mean anything. It is very commonly used in conversational English (especially by young people) with no meaning, and it's pronounced very quickly and weakly:
- I was like so tired yesterday (= I was so tired yesterday).
- You're like boring (= You're boring)
- Mum's like going to stay with us (= Mum's going to stay with us)

SO EMO= (coll.) Very emotional.
If you are "emo", you show strong feelings. There was a kind of music called "emo" because it talked a lot about emotions, and then an urban tribe called "emos" after that kind of music.

SPAM= A spam e-mail is an e-mail that you don't want to receive, usually advertisements.

SITE= Website.

LAPTOP= A portable computer (in this futuristic scene, the laptop is really a robot with the appearance of a real boy).

TOO MUCH OF A DISTRACTION= A very big distraction (so you can't concentrate on your classes and homework).

CONFISCATE= If a teacher, a parent or another person of authority confiscates something from you, they take it away from you, usually just for a period of time.

IT'S STILL SCHOOL PROPERTY= It belongs to the school (it's not yours, it's from the school).

ASSIGNMENTS= A piece of homework or an essay that you have to do for your teacher.

STUFF=(coll.) Things.

UNLESS= If not.
- I'll go with you unless I'm too tired = I'll go with you if I'm not too tired.
- This car is perfect, unless you don't like green = This car is perfect, except if you don't like the green colour.

TICKED= If you tick a box, you mark a little square with a tick (V) or a cross (X). In fact, in computers, if you "tick" a box, you actually "cross" it. For example, in a form you have two little boxes for your gender: one box for male and one box for female. If you are a boy you tick the box of male.
On the internet, many sites require a password for privacy, so nobody can enter your profile if they don't know your password. But there is usually a little box saying "remember me". If you tick that box, you don't need to write your password every time you enter that page because your computer will remember your password... but if somebody else gets your computer, they can enter your page too, because they don't have to write a password again.

ITEM= Thing, device, object.

SHUT DOWN= (of an electrical device) Disconnect.

DECEPTIVE= Misleading.