Wikipedia:Reference desk/Entertainment

Welcome to the entertainment section
of the Wikipedia reference desk.

skip to bottom

Select a section:

• Computing
• Entertainment
• Humanities
• Language
• Mathematics
• Science
• Miscellaneous
• Archives

Want a faster answer?

Main page: Help searching Wikipedia

   

How can I get my question answered?

• Select the section of the desk that best fits the general topic of your question (see the navigation column to the right).
• Post your question to only one section, providing a short header that gives the topic of your question.
• Type '~~~~' (that is, four tilde characters) at the end – this signs and dates your contribution so we know who wrote what and when.
• Don't post personal contact information – it will be removed. Any answers will be provided here.
• Please be as specific as possible, and include all relevant context – the usefulness of answers may depend on the context.
• Note:
  • We don't answer (and may remove) questions that require medical diagnosis or legal advice.
  • We don't answer requests for opinions, predictions or debate.
  • We don't do your homework for you, though we'll help you past the stuck point.
  • We don't conduct original research or provide a free source of ideas, but we'll help you find information you need.

Ready? Ask a new question!

How do I answer a question?

Main page: Wikipedia:Reference desk/Guidelines

• The best answers address the question directly, and back up facts with wikilinks and links to sources. Do not edit others' comments and do not give any medical or legal advice.

See also:

• Teahouse
• Help desk
• Village pump
• Help manual

May 14

Where are the nannies now?

I know Jo Frost and Stella Reid live in California, and Yvonne Finnerty lives in Boston. But where do Deborah Tillman, Deborah Carroll, Yvonne Shove and Lillian Sperling live these days?2603:7000:8100:BD38:285C:45A1:D380:86E7 (talk) 02:43, 14 May 2021 (UTC)

I took the liberty of trying to link your additional names. Have you searched Google? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:46, 14 May 2021 (UTC)

I can find no information on any of them. It isn't surprising, many people aren't easily found on the internet, and the residences of the very marginally famous people is not always easy to find. They may very well not be leading a public life anymore, and may not make it easy to find out where their homes are. --Jayron32 18:02, 14 May 2021 (UTC)

Should we even be helping this person track down minor celebrities? Clarityfiend (talk) 19:23, 14 May 2021 (UTC)

No, and we probably shouldn't be helping track down any living person beyond what's written in Wikipedia's articles (of course I don't mean stuff one occasionally finds in said articles that should be removed according to Wikipedia's policies) ---Sluzzelin talk 19:40, 14 May 2021 (UTC)

Question from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)

After a black out in train, Hogwart says to his friends:

• Malfoy: Hogwarts. What a pathetic excuse for a school. I'd pitch myself off the Astronomy Tower...if I had to continue for another two years.

What does "pathetic excuse" refer to? Rizosome (talk) 06:13, 14 May 2021 (UTC)

It's just an idiomatic English phrase meaning that it's not a very good example of a school. --Viennese Waltz 07:41, 14 May 2021 (UTC)

For the meanings of words we have Wiktionary. See wikt:pathetic: "Arousing scorn or contempt, often due to miserable inadequacy".--Shantavira|^{feed me} 08:20, 14 May 2021 (UTC)

And wiktionary also explains this use of the noun "excuse" (third definition):

"(with preceding negative adjective, especially sorry, poor or lame) An example of something that is substandard or of inferior quality."

Examples: "That thing is a poor excuse for a gingerbread man. Hasn't anyone taught you how to bake?" and "He's a sorry excuse for a doctor."

---Sluzzelin talk 08:50, 14 May 2021 (UTC)

Googling "pathetic excuse" brings up (first result): "a pathetic​/​poor​/​sad excuse for something phrase, informal: someone or something that is of very bad quality [example] We have a failing economy and a pathetic excuse for a President.". Alansplodge (talk) 11:00, 15 May 2021 (UTC)

May 19

Olmecs

Are there any known videogames that depict Olmecs, characters inspired by them, or artefacts of the Olmec civilisation in general? The only games I can think off the top of my head are Spelunky, where one of the bosses is a mechanical gold-plated Olmec head, and (strangely enough) Panty Raider: From Here to Immaturity, which features sprites of Olmec-ish heads alongside other miscellaneous altars and stone carvings in one area's background. No titles of the Civilisation game series even bother mentioning the Olmec, which is a little sad. I also thought of the Darkstalkers character "Huitzil", but I've since found out its design has more likeness to dogū statuettes than anything Mesoamerican, despite bearing an Aztec name and taking care of a Mayan child in its arcade story. --72.234.12.37 (talk) 09:56, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

Civilization VI references the Olmecs. Becoming suzerain of the La Venta city state grants the player the ability to create Olmec colossal heads as tile improvements. I believe they grant extra faith points in the game. --Jayron32 11:40, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

• Serious Sam: The Second Encounter is partly set in Palenque, which was a Maya city, but the levels also contains examples of the famous Olmec heads. For example, see the first picture in the gallery here. Matt Deres (talk) 18:19, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

Looking for the site that explains songs

While not a Eurovision Songfestival fan, I stumbled upon Destiny - Je Me Casse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUElgja4B9w and I actually like it. I feel like a kid that likes Hershey Bars but doesn't know that in reality a kid's brain simply really likes sugar.

I might recognize modulation in a song and think "a-ha, modulation! That's the sugar!", yet there are probably 80 other kinds of "sugar" in just this song (and I believe that modulation happens not to be one of those) that I never heard about, and would like to be pointed at by a guide who knows these things. "The poo-pam poo-pam right at the start probably sounds very familiar but it wasn't till the 1920s that songs would start... It sounds upbeat because it's one of the schemes that fit x, but scientists still haven't found out why y wouldn't have the same .. . Notable songs that also start like that are ... "

Basically, where's the site that doesn't simply shows the lyrics but where experts say "I see what you did there" to give me a grasp of what musicians think when they hear a song like this? Joepnl (talk) 21:34, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

There is no such site. --Viennese Waltz 21:37, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

I forgot to mention: for movies there is a site that does list the "tricks" used by movie makers, https://tvtropes.org/ . There must be a site that has "modulation" in some list? Joepnl (talk) 23:26, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

Occasionally, music YouTubers such as Rick Beato will break down a song on their channel to explain what makes it special, but they can do this for only a small fraction of interesting songs, so don't hold your breath.  --Lambiam 22:24, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

Does the music appreciation lobes of your brain find the same pleasure in for instance Aretha Franklin's rendition of "Chain of Fools"?  --Lambiam 22:28, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

Not really. I think it's the combination of the simple poo-pam poo-pam saying "fun song following" followed by a mighty voice telling a strong message, the trumpets agreeing, etc. Joepnl (talk) 23:26, 19 May 2021 (UTC)