Hollywood is a terminal utility that fills your console with Hollywood melodrama technobabble by splitting your terminal into multiple panes of randomly selected visual widgets.
The tool solves the problem of needing authentic-looking but harmless technobabble displays for film, television, and theatrical productions. It works by randomly selecting and arranging from a collection of twenty visual widgets, each displaying different types of system information or visual effects. These widgets range from system monitors like htop and atop to visual effects like cmatrix and jp2a, creating the appearance of intense hacking or system administration activity suitable for background scenes in technical thrillers.
The tool is purpose-built for entertainment production use rather than practical system administration. Anyone considering adoption should understand that it is designed specifically for creating convincing background displays in films, television shows, commercials, and online presentations. It works well for Zoom or Meet backgrounds, as sample videos demonstrate. The security note in the README warns that some widgets display real system information that could be sensitive, so running the tool in a container is recommended for demonstrations or presentations where data privacy matters.
Development activity shows consistent attention to widget design constraints. The project maintains clear rules that all widgets must work as non-root users, display information indefinitely without exhausting memory or system resources, avoid excessive I/O, and require no outbound internet access. The tool is packaged for multiple distributions including Ubuntu and Debian, and Docker installation is available for users who prefer not to install locally.
