DISCARDED THINGS

Young people have no idea that you used to have soft flops, floppies that fitted in a floppy drive. Also called ‘diskettes’. You could put 360 KB on it.

Yes, those small hard flops, of 9 x 9.3 cm with 1.44 MB storage space, people are still vaguely familiar with them. Also because -funnily enough- that is still the icon for ‘save’. I still have a lot of those High Density MFD-2HD. Also a box of new ones, I think. Fortunately, I have a separate device borrowed from my brother-in-law with which I can read them. And files made with my favorite word processing program Wordperfect can be converted into Word. Every now and then I end up in the maze of forgotten software.

But those soft flops? I also had boxes full of those. Box with a lock on it. But I don’t have a drive where they fit anymore.

In 1991 I had made a database with d-base 3 or 4 to see which producers had received the most money (Kees Kasander) and which director had received the most subsidies (Reza Alamazahdeh. but small amounts).

The list of members of the DIFA was also on it. The DIFA, the Dutch Documentary Independent Film Association, once a thriving club in which directors, producers and enthusiasts were united, which had a gentlemen’s agreement with the public broadcaster, full of respect for the creative documentary.

I threw most of them away. And kept another box. On one of the flops is the screenplay of Mo and Fun, by Danniël Danniël. What should have been his big film after the successful film EGG. The film was never made. I would like to read the script again, but I can’t find it anywhere. It’s on that flop.