Wikipedia:Reference desk/Entertainment

May 16

Chris Brown scandal...

For about a month now, the Chris Brown page has been a complete mess. the page is locked so i can't edit it. there is a rumour posted there of a sex scandal and when i checked the source, found it to be highly unreliable. A lot of younger fans read the page, and they don't need to read garbage. If any credible editor's are reading this, could you please fix this? Thankyou --58.108.91.119 00:27, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

MH

Does anyone have any information on songs RnB singer Marques Houston did with the Ying Yang Twins. They don't appear on any of their albums. For reference, the songs are "Do It" and "The Jumpoff".--58.108.91.119 00:27, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

Something's up with Disney...

Why do they always choose to ruin their classics with horrendous sequels? For example, Cinderella was doing fine until they released the second and third ones.bibliomaniac15 01:52, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Disney has the problem that their classic characters are becoming less familiar to new generations, and they need to somehow "keep them fresh". It could be seen as a genuine attempt to make an entertaining film that fails, or as an attempt to cash in on our collective memories to make a fast buck. Some see the glass slipper as half empty, some see it as half full. StuRat 02:23, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Just don't drink champagne out of it after Cinders has been dancing till midnight. :) JackofOz 02:44, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

How much foot perspiration can a woman with the tiniest shoe in the city have? As long as you follow the five-second rule, no one will know... bibliomaniac15 05:10, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

I'll take your advice if you can guarantee me that she didn't put her shoe on until 11:59:55 pm.  :) JackofOz 05:18, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Disney cinema-released animations are big-budget event movies with many marketing tie-ins. They appeal to teens and many adults as well as kids. They can spawn theme-park rides and cartoon series that mop up extra revenue among younger, more impressionable fans. Disney animated sequels are direct-to-video cash-ins. Young children will obsessively watch the original on DVD over and over to the frustration of parents and others. A sequel will appeal to these uncritical viewers in spite of its much lower production values, weak script, unsophisticated humour, and lack of celebrity voice-artists. Most of those old enough to have some critical judgment ignore the sequels, even if they enjoyed the original movie. While most of the original movies are based (loosely) on a traditional or well-known story, the sequels are original stories focussed on the characters created by Disney, which are thus subject to Disney's creative control. Compare three sequels to the same original story: The Starlight Barking (book); 101 Dalmatians II (direct-to-video animation); 102 Dalmatians (live-action cinema).jnestorius^(talk) 22:17, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

NFS Carbon not working!

Hi. I got NFS Carbon for PC as a birthday present. The setup seems to be complete, but every time I try to start it the splash screen appears, the screen goes black and then shows my desktop again. WHY?? If anyone can help, I'll greatly appreciate it.

--Ash "Gotta Catch Em' All" Ketchum 16:40, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

P. S. I think it has something to do with my graphics card...

Have you checked the graphics card is compatible with the game? Do you have the approrpiate version of direct x installed? Have you checked that the drivers for your graphics card are up-to-date? All these things could affect the ability to run the game ny156uk 20:05, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Carbon is quite resource intensive. Moreso than practically any other game I've played. I put it down to lack of optimisation, as it isnt particularly pretty. As Ny156uk says, check graphics card compatability and game requirements. Also I would suggest trying to update your audio drivers - this can cause havoc sometimes.

Check the readme file; they sometimes tell you that by adding something like -x or -w to the file path, which causes the program to either run in windowed mode, skip the starting video or search for a different driver. You may get a better response at the Computers desk though. Laïka 11:45, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

One more thing... Please somebody e-mail me with a list of compatible graphics cards for NFS. That would be greatly appreciated. My E-mail address will be posted on my talk page.

--Ash "Gotta Catch Em' All" Ketchum 14:00, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Go to "my preferences" and "Enable e-mail from other users"; that way you need not publish your address. —Tamfang 05:00, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

British TV "series" vs. USA TV "season"

I was curious why British TV shows have such short "seasons." (usually 6-12 episodes). In the USA, most series range from length 22-26 episodes. Is there some historical reason? (I prefer it, since a short run seems to be better written -- like The Sopranos -- rather than filler and B-level episodes written to fill in the longer season)

You might find what you are looking for in this thread. IrishGuy ^talk 22:50, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

It comes down to the relative sizes of the populations of the UK vs. the USA. A smaller audience means less ad revenue (or tax revenue, for public TV) which means less money to spend per season. A classic case of planning for low budgets in British TV is Doctor Who, where they had the TARDIS malfunction so it always looks like a police box (to avoid having to spend money on changing it each episode), and they allowed the Doctor to "regenerate" periodically, meaning they could replace him with a cheaper actor when the old one got greedy. Similarly, the Doctor's companions seemed to be easily replaceable. StuRat 00:40, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Nowhere in our plethora of Doctor Who articles, nor specifically in regeneration or History of Doctor Who can I find any reference to greedy actors. The first time it was used was because of concerns about the William Hartnell's age and health, the second time because Patrick Troughton said he was tired of the rigors of a regular series. And so on. Given that, I'd be curious about where you have sourced this information about revenue versus length of season. --LarryMac | Talk 01:02, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

The argument for relative budgets of shows doesn't really add up, since there are plenty of British TV shows that do run all year around. Moreover, ad revenue is generated by episode (for commerical TV), so as long as you can maintain viewing figures then you can continue to generate your income level irrespective of number of episodes. As pointed out above, The Doctor Who example isn't quite correct either. There is no evidence any doctor has been replaced due to salary demands (indeed, history shows its usually the doctors that choose to leave, with the BBC offering them more money to stay). Instead, it is a device to permit the continuation of the same fictional character over a long period of time.

The more convincing reason is that TV is less ad-driven in the UK, indeed all free-to-air channels have some public service conditions to their license (see Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom). So whereas, there is huge commercial incentive to continue to generate episodes of successful shows in the US, this is less pronounced in the UK. Instead, creative considerations have greater importance. So what you find is that British writers and producers feel they can tell their story best in 6-12 episodes, so that is what they do (cf. The Office). In the US, the networks put intense pressure on the makers of tv shows to continue to churn out more episodes to generate more money, so that is what they do (cf. The Office (US TV series)). Its no co-incidence, I would propose, that the British comedies most revered by US audiences are the ones that have very few episodes. Quality over quantity, perhaps, as the querent suggests. Indeed, the producers and actors of Lost recently discussed how they had planned a start, middle and end for their plot. However, since the show has been so successful, the network asked them to "pad out" the middle story arc (which is what they have been doing recently). Now they have established that the show will end in 3 seasons time, they have noted that they can get back on to their original story arc.

The other reason is historical and based on the seasonal aspect of US televsion (though this itself evolved from commercial considerations and chasing the highest ratings, which is why the UK doesn't really have TV seasons.) The seasons historically last a certain period of time and therefore US shows are produced to fit into this time frame. Rockpocket 01:17, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

And that period of time is 9 months. American TV seasons used to be 39 weeks, but broadcasters found they could dilute their product with rerun after rerun and people would still watch. --Anon, May 17, 04:25 (UTC).

I just feel the need to mention Coronation Street and East Enders as exceptions to the short series theory. --LarryMac | Talk 13:49, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

An explanation I have heard is that American TV shows are written by a team of authors coming up with ideas on a per episode basis. In the UK things are done as a script by one person (or maybe two) much like a movie, it is then more difficult to come up with a large number of episodes as they do in America with guest writers etc. A notable recent exception is My Family which is produced in an American style (as noted in the article) and does indeed have more episodes per series.

Team based writing works best for (American style) sitcoms which are composed of a series of short jokes and thought up during a brainstorming session. For dramas it seems to lead most often to only 10 good episodes of a 22 episode season actually telling a story and the rest being filler. Focus groups suggest that Bob is most appealing to audiences so someone writes more episodes focusing primarily on "Bob". This leads to most dramas having a large Soap-Opera component, while in British dramas just a story-with-conclusion.

Things are changing though and more shows in the UK are being produced by teams of writers. Doctor Who being an example of this. Caffm8 17:40, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

May 17

whats this song?

can anyone tell me the song in this video? note:i love lanvin the clothes are so edgy :) [[1]] - video

Muscial Piece in the song Gone Til November by Wyclef Jean

Does anyone know the name of the musical piece (orchastral) that is in the background of Gone Til November song by Wyclef Jean? - --Juliet 18:13, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

The title of this song or artist?

My wife and I have been trying to figure out the title of this song for some time. We only know a few lyrics, but I can give some other information about it.

The song was released between 2001-2003, it an R&B singer, probably a black woman, however the song included at least one or more men. It told the story of a man going to a party of some sort and meeting a girl he knew in high school who was a stripper at the party. And she (the singer) talks about how terrible her life is and the only lyric we know is the chorus:

For you this is just one night For me this is my whole life

Those are paraphrases perhaps, but we've tried to find it on google for a while and even through lists of R&B artists and still cannot find it, any help or hints are appreciated. -Anthonysenn 18:40, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

It was by City High, What Would You Do? (City High song). Here's a link to the lyrics: http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/life/whatwouldyoudo.htm - --Juliet 19:08, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

REPOST Mars Volta Fan Suicide Video

Mars Volta Fan Suicide Video

a while back like 4 years ago i found a video of a fan commiting "suicide" to the song intertiatic esp and i found the video very interesting, the suicide from what i could tell was not real but i would like to have a copy of the video and i have looked everywhere for it but to no avail. does anyone have it or know where i can get it? it was a video of him walking around in the dark for a while and then one scene of him in a forest? seems like wintertime with no or little leaves on the trees in maybe a northern region of the US and him hanging himself, or at least that's what he was trying to make it look like. anyone know what keywords i can put into a p2p or anything of that sort in order to get this video? 200.35.168.129 22:28, 10 April 2007 (UTC) Ag for MemTech

any links whatsoever will help...thx 200.35.168.129 22:00, 17 May 2007 (UTC) Ag for MemTech

May 18

Who is "Sherry"

Does anyone know who inspired the song Sherry? Written by Bob Gaudia of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Someone I know claims it was about their Mother. Any one know if it was a song inspired by a real person? If so, is there any description of this person known?

That likely comes from the Broadway play, which very loosely based on fact. The song was initially titled "Terry" - as a filler. In rehersal, it was changed to "Peri" because it sounded better than "Terry". The producer suggested "Jackie" in reference to Jackie Kennedy, but it sounded poor. Jack Spector suggested "Cheri", his daughter's name. That was changed to an easier-to-sing "Sherry". see here --Kainaw ^(talk) 13:40, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Actually, there is no such claim in the play. Corvus cornix 20:42, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Thankyou very much-I will continue to use this very helpful site!

Rap...please die!

Is it likely that sooner or later Rap will be banned and or controled by the FCC?--Otaku125956573 17:01, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

I suspect not. Rap is merely music and whilst there is pressure to 'ban' music that glorifies violence you would be hard pushed to do that in any meaningful way without banning film/books/tv/speeches that do the same. I would look at the wide variety of rap music styles a little closer. They can range from promoting respectable behaviour, through stories about love/heartache all the way towards 'gangsta' rap. As Arrested Development once sang..."Here have a dollar, infact nah brother man here have two, two dollars means a snack to me but it means a big deal to you". Or maybe Jay-Z with "I came I saw I conquered, gold record sales, sold out concerts". Anywhere that can work veni, vidi, vici by Caesar into a rap song shows (to me at least) that rap is much more expressive and intelligent than many of the public give it credit for. ny156uk 17:08, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

To add to ny156uk's comments, the FCC has no authority to regulate rap or any other form of music. According to the FCC article the agency "...is charged with regulating all non-Federal Government use of the radio spectrum (including radio and television broadcasting), and all interstate telecommunications (wire, satellite and cable) as well as all international communications that originate or terminate in the United States." Barring a broad extension of the FCC's powers, which IMHO would be doubleplusungood, it is quite unlikely they will be banning any form of music. 161.222.160.8 22:39, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

They certainly could ban music encouraging violence from being broadcast by radio, however. It also wouldn't be unreasonable for the FCC to ban such satellite transmissions. Banning Internet and especially music store sales, on the other hand, would be well beyond their mandate. StuRat 01:57, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

Song "two people touching...

looking for a song sounds similair to love moments by Justin Robertson but the lyrics as far as i can remember a

"two people kissing me then kissing each other."

it oncew played on Fashion TV

its kinda ambient electronica. pretty obscure song would be happy if anyone gets it! 89.243.57.73 18:18, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like it's "2 People" by Jean Jacques Smoothie. The lyrics are "Two people, just meeting/barely touching each other". — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 11:41, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

Insurance and charities

If no one did any charity telethons to raise money for the victims of the 2007 Solomon Islands earthquake and the Greensburg tornado, what does insurance have to do with the telethons? Aren't goods and services donated for those types of things?72.229.130.76 21:22, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

I don't think insurance has anything to do with telethons directly. At the same time I am not sure what you are asking. Can you provide some context? 161.222.160.8 00:16, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

May 19

Fabamundo

Who says "Fabamundo" on what television show?

Someone on Happy Days ? StuRat 01:39, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

According to this discussion [2], which I cant actually look at (work filter) it would be the Fonz 161.222.160.8 04:50, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

Aaayyy! I just realized, the Fonz must be Canadian. I mean, we're way cooler than the Americans, eeehhh. Clarityfiend 17:53, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

Was it not off the TV cartoon series "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"?

Online radio stations

Is there an online radio station that plays the same style of music as you here in doctor's and other offices and in hotel elevators and retail stores? 71.100.7.136 00:23, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

You mean elevator music/muzak ? I think that's mostly easy listening, and a few radio stations do dispense it. StuRat 01:36, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

help

hey i need help. 1.am looking for a celebrity couple.the chick is rumoured to be jewish and the guy was a hit in the eighties with mny cool movies to his name.the source of the trivia was from wikipedia.i have tried but keep on reaching a dead end. 2.whats the differncr between an mp3 cd and a normal auio cd.

In answer to question 2, the songs on a normal CD are encoded in Red Book format, while on an MP3 CD, they are encoded in MP3, WMA or ATRAC formats. Basically, it's easier to make an MP3 CD than a Red Book CD with a home computer, but not all CD players will play the MP3 CD. The MP3 CD concept is going out of fashion, as many hi-fis now have USB ports to allow you to plug an MP3 player or USB flash drive in and play that instead. Laïka 09:52, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

There are certainly several answers to question 1, but one Jewish celebrity fitting the description (if you accept the word "chick" for women) is Sarah Jessica Parker, married to Matthew Broderick who starred in a couple of "cool" movies in the eighties. Patricia Arquette, Jewish by matrilinearity, was once married to Nicolas Cage, who definitely starred in a couple of cool movies in the eighties. ---Sluzzelin talk 14:09, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

Comic Books and All Caps?

Why is it that comic books and webcomics are written in all capital letters?

--Grey1618 17:51, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

It's generally easier to read all caps, especially at a small size/low resolution. StuRat 19:30, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

That's not true. Lower case is easier to read. This question was asked last month; see the discussion here. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 20:03, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

The idea that "lower case is easier to read" is one that's only been put forward in recent decades. Even if it's actually true (I for one think it's overstated), comic books have been around for longer than that, so StuRat's answer could still be correct as well. --Anonymous, May 19, 2007, 22:03 (UTC).

I'm not sure how widespread it is, but bear in mind that some comic books use capitals and lowercase as with normal text: From Hell, for example. Algebraist 20:16, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

Looking for a game

I'm looking for a video game that meets that following criteria:

1. Is fun with single player
2. Not too much graphics power needed
3. Good single player story
4. Long enough play time (15+ hours)
5. Good graphics
6. Exciting (e.g. Half Life 2)
7. Relatively new (not more than 2 years)

I thought that I might as well ask here, thanks, Jeffrey.Kleykamp 20:38, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

You might wish to clarify which console or format you are interested in. Rockpocket 23:28, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

PC or Xbox 360, with Xbox 360 criteria #2 falls out. Jeffrey.Kleykamp 23:33, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

Gears of War was well received and appears to meet most of your subjective criteria. [3] Rockpocket 23:52, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

Yes I agree, however, it isn't very long (and therefore failing #4), I beat it in 3 days of an average of 4 hours per day the first time around (i.e. 12 hour game time). Jeffrey.Kleykamp 00:13, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

F.E.A.R., perhaps? Carom 15:42, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

I would suggest Call of Duty 2. Halo for PC also comes to mind, but it's been out for a pretty long time. On a related note, Halo 2 is coming out soon, but it's only for Vista. bibliomaniac15 23:50, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

1 and 6 are really opinion based though. If you're into strategy/RTS, Space Rangers (video game) has pretty good reviews (90%+ ratings from what I've seen), and it seems to be a good game, though I didn't play it much yet. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 08:28, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Have a look a Deus Ex - best single-player story line I've ever encountered in a game, released in 2000 (granted, it's quite a bit older than two years, but it still looks okay and is not too hardware-hungry), and will keep you occupied for at least 30 hours -- Ferkelparade π 08:26, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

I second Deus Ex. Have a look at the articles for Hitman: Blood Money, Knights of the Old Republic and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion too. Then there's the obvious Half-life 2: Episode One. Down M. 23:41, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

Dues Ex is an excellent game with multiple endings and LOTS of content that combines FPS and RPG elements very well. Deus Ex: Invisible War was not as good. It was a good game, but don't think it's a substitute for the original. Anynobody 03:00, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Telenovelas reduced to one night a week on MyNetworkTV

After American Heiress and Saints and Sinners (telenovela), are the executives at MyNetworkTV going to air more telenovelas one night a week or is the telenovela programming permanently out of the equation for good?--12.18.90.134 23:02, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

May 20

a name of a natok that i dont know

Hi this is abount a drama by humayun ahmed. it was an eid's drama . there was a non existent cat present and i know there was ali zaker in the cast. thts all i can rember. i wish to know bout the name of that natok. if anyone can help with that den i will be really grateful.

Marks on film

Recently, I've been noticing strange marks that occasionally appear for a few frames in films I've been watching in the cinema. Unlike cue marks, these appear in the centre of the screen in the form of small greenish-brown grey ovals in a pattern similar to this:

       <> <> <>
       <>    <>
       <> <> 
       <>

I dimly recall seeing an image of these marks online somewhere, possibly on Wikipedia. I'd appreciate it if someone could point me in the right direction for finding out what these marks are (audio sync cues? reel ID tags?). Thanks. --Aramգուտանգ 07:15, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

Take a look at Coded Anti-Piracy. — Kieff | Talk 07:23, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

Yep, that's it. Thanks a lot. --Aramգուտանգ 14:54, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

what's the song/track in the may 2007 orange advert

it's a recording of a girl, it starts "i like conversations..."

and features a girl dancing and what she is saying/singing is acted out with other people and props.

it's been played on television only in the last month i think (may 2007) that's all i know, but i really like the lyrics ! even if i can't have the song i'd like to know what the lyrics are. i've searched everywhere !

81.100.112.229 17:51, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

(http://www.commercialbreaksandbeats.co.uk/results.asp?searchString=orange) is a site that lists advert music. Orange (or the advertising agency they employ) seem to always pick wonderful songs for their adverts. The Funky Low Lives track is excellent, though it is instrumental (at least the version I have is). ny156uk 21:31, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

May 21

U.S. Federal Anti-piracy regulations

When recently viewing a movie at a Regal IMAX theater, the usher stated (I paraphrase from memory) "Federal Anti-piracy regulations require that you turn off all electronic devices." I would like to know if this is true or not. So, does U.S. Federal Law require that all electronic devices be turned off before the start of a motion picture? (I facetiously pointed out that all wristwatches and pacemakers would have to be powered down as well.) Please post a link to the relevant U.S. Code. thank you. --Rajah 06:23, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

I only know about the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005, which makes it illegal to record or transmit a movie using a camcorder or similar device (a camera, phone, etc...) If you could figure out how to record or transmit a movie with a wristwatch or pacemaker, you'd be required to turn it off. However, it doesn't matter. Nobody turns anything off. If you've actually been to a movie in the last 10 years, you already know that at least half the audience spends the whole movie shining their cell phone's screen in your face while they check messages and text their friends. --Kainaw ^(talk) 12:29, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

Les Fatals Picards

What does Les Fatals Picards mean in English? "The deadly sword"? (I have never read any French.) --130.236.217.186 12:37, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

I personally haven't seen "picard" used as "sword". It refers to people from Picardie. --Kainaw ^(talk) 14:48, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

Unless fatal has a slang meaning, I can't see any better translation than The Picard Fatals or The Picard Inevitables. —Tamfang 15:45, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

really nice tune

who sings this new song that is out featuring lupe fiasco, i think it goes something like 'step by step, day by day' it is a really great tune i love the video too, so does anyone know?

Joy Denalane - Change — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 17:43, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

TOP TEN MOVIES AT U.S. BOXOFFICE BY YEAR

Is there a source for finding the top 10 movies at the U.S> box office by year from 1915 - present?

Well, there are articles for each year in film, e.g. 1939 in film, which list the top grossing films, but it's a bit hit and miss. Some years show 10, some less, others none at all, and none of them give actual numbers as far as I can see. Clarityfiend 23:45, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

Box Office Mojo only goes up to 1980, but it's worth a try. bibliomaniac15 23:48, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

May 22

Mozart style

I've noticed that the first movement of Mozart's 31st and 39th symphonies, the first movement of his 22nd piano concerto, and the "magic flute" overture share similarities. Is this a specific style?